COLOMBO: Tamils living in Sri Lanka’s Northern Pro­vince will soon ask the government, military, navy and air force to quit the province, Chief Minister C. V. Wignes­waran said on Thursday.

Addressing an event organised to remember Tamils who died in the war eight years ago, Mr Wigneswaran said he saw no reason for the government to station 150,000 troops in the province after the war against the Tamil Tiger ended on May 18, 2009.

“The time is not far off when the people here will loudly say: Go back army, Go back navy, go back Air Force. There will be heated arguments on these demands,” he told the people gathered in Mulliwaikkal, the location of the final battle between government troops and the LTTE.

The commemoration, led by the chief minister, was dedicated to observing the alleged “genocide” which took place there in the closing days of the war.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2017

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